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Recently, I contacted Dish CS and only after saying “I will only talk to someone in Executive Customer Relations.” about 20 times was I given the number…mind you that also means I was NOT transferred…Dish’s regular customer service isn’t even good enough to be called a joke.

ceo@echostar.com is the email address. I’ve used it when the CSRs on the phone are uncooperative. YMMV, but I got them to (a) take off the $5/month fee for not having a phone line connected to my dual tuner DVR, (b) give me a $50 credit for upgrading to an HD-DVR that I wasn’t technically eligible for, and (c) not charge me a $6.95/month lease fee for upgrading to said DVR. This is after the phone CSRs ‘couldn’t do anything for me’.

I have always had good experiences with Dish, but the one time I had trouble I ended up in Executive Customer Relations. Took a bit to get there. They had done a software update that made my DVR randomly reboot. I called tech support who said they knew about the problem and were working on it. After about a month I called and said they had to do something. Their only solution was that I buy an upgraded larger DVR from them. I asked that they give it to me for no charge because it was their software that was the problem, and of course they said no. I kept being transferred to people who kept saying no. Then one of them said “I’m not authorized to make that decision.” So then I changed my request; I said “I want that larger DVR for no charge. Are you authorized to do that? If not, I want talk to someone who is.” After two transfers, I went right up to Executive Customer Relations, who granted my request immediately. One other thing that I think was useful is that I was really, really nice and polite to everyone I talked to.

@Franklin: Thanks for the email! I just sent them a request for a rebate that I never got. It’s now taken care of. Previous emails to regular customer service resulted in them telling me to call a phone number that didn’t even work when I dialed it. :D

@backbroken: Me, too. Although really, most of my stories involve the horrible people they contract with. One person showed up for the appointment without any tools, so of course he couldn’t install my dish. It took three more appointments to get it settled, because each time someone came, they had no idea what they were doing. And one of the contractors called me “babe” in this really condescending manner when I told him what I thought of his coming unprepared (he was the second guy to come without tools!). I wrote Dish Network corporate to complain about their contractors, but never heard back from them. Shocking. I wish I’d had these addresses at the time.

Reminds me of the time we got Dish installed. The installer put the dish in the wrong place, and we were having a heck of a time getting a good signal. After calling Dish several times, they said they would send out another installer to move it at no charge, since it was within 30 days of installation.

The installer comes over and tells my wife he needs money to move the dish to another location, and my wife offered a check, but he wanted cash. She only had $25, so he took $25 cash, and didn’t give a receipt.

When I got home, I got on the phone with Dish and must have escalated to three different supervisors and executive relations. I finally got a $25 credit back on my bill, and I still to this day don’t think they did anything about that installer.

My wife knows now that she doesn’t give cash to anyone. A check or credit card with a receipt, and only after making sure the charges are legit. In this case, I think the installer wanted dinner money.

Your wife is a complete idiot then. Dish should never have given you that credit, if they really did. Usually you would either a) be advised to contact the retailer to “get the money back”, or b) cut the losses. If Dish shows no payment, then technically they don’t credit.

Teach your wife these words, “PUT IT ON MY BILL!!!” Or, she should have called Dish up and ask why she has to pay $25. Hmmm… Guessing she’s a blonde? Or just brainless….

Good thing I won’t need this. I tried to sign up with the TurboHD package over the phone yesterday and they hung up on me while transferring my call. I called back and they hung up on me again. So I guess I’ll keep my uncompressed HD that I receive over the air for free. Darn.

@jkaufman101: If EchoStar fired everyone in the organization for gross incompetence, the halls of the corporate headquarters would be empty…along with the executive offices.

@MissPeacock: Calling someone “babe” wouldn’t even rise to the level of an attention-worthy issue at EchoStar. They go much farther than that simply as part of their corporate culture.

Also, ceo@echostar.com may indeed be a good email to get a resolution, but it is most certainly not read by the CEO, Charlie Ergen. As simple as it sounds, his email is charlie.ergen@echostar.com, although he has screeners. Let me also assure you that no one cares less about their customers (or employees) than he himself. Any resolution you might get from Executive Customer Service is in spite of his leadership and direction, not because of it.

@rasbach: Even off-air HD is compressed, just much less than cable or Dish. DirecTV just converted all their HD channels to full-resolution MPEG4 and it looks great. You might try calling them instead. They have more HD than Dish anyway.

We’ve been with Dish Network for some 8 years, and I gotta’ say, we’ve never had anything but a couple of very minor problems with them, the equipment or services provided. Even through a move, they were friendly and responsive to our needs, and had everything done correctly and on-schedule. I think the pricing has been reasonable, and in following business-related issues I think Charlie Ergen does an admirable job of keeping customers in the loop with political issues and broadcaster negotiations (which he has no need at all to do). If you choose to follow it as such, there is a bit of a community feel to the service which I doubt you will find with many other businesses.

There have been a couple of times where I’ve wanted product or services they weren’t able to offer at the time, but that’s certainly not their fault. And in each instance, they’ve either instituted what I wanted at a later date, or went out of their way to help me find alternates to what I wanted in the first place.

I recommend Dish Network to everyone I know (and I don’t even use their referral rewards program).

I just called Dish and they waived the $40 fee for activating the external hard drive which the originally told me they would waive. Of course when I got the bill, the fee was on there, so I called their “regular” customer service number and was told by the supervisor that he couldn’t even do it.

I was feeling saucy today, so I called up David at 720-514-8555 ext. 80590 and in less than 5 minutes he waived the fee.

The Consumerist just saved me a boatload of money. I was told twice by phone and once by e-mail that I would have to pay for any equipment outright (HD DVRs are expensive!) if I wanted to sign up with Dish again. I quit our service last year when we were broke.

One year later, I’m looking at hundreds of dollars in equipment and installation fees just because I WAS A CUSTOMER BEFORE.

I used the ceo@echostar.com e-mail after being shut down by all the posted numbers/e-mail addresses, and within one day, I got the HD DVR set up to be installed for free if I agreed to a 24-month contract. (I did.)

The Executive Communications representative (Matt.Kliewer@dishnetwork.com) got it done in seconds. I’m not sure why they want to obscure these reps and why they make it so difficult to get to them. Doesn’t everyone need more revenue streams these days?

Called the Corp Office number and cleared up my billing issue [ a monthly credit that was promised but not applied ] in under 10 minutes. Too bad I spent nearly 45min of frustration messing around with DISH’s regular and obviously outsourced customer “service” and got no where. Thanks Consumerist!

this is Shane Russell. I own a business. I feel very strongly about doing what’s right for the customer and I’m here to prove how much power the customer really has. This is going to be all over the Internet extremely quickly. I will speak for everyone. A company is not doing right by it’s customers, and the world will know it.

it has nothing to do with choice or no choice. i’ve already decided to contact my attorney general. i’m not worried. my voice is going to be heard. there is always going to be two sides to the story, but guess what? i have a link to share with you. The company I work for just paid a huge class action lawsuit over an early termination fee in the amount of $21 million. I would hold my company to the same standards. It’s the principle. I am merely trying to prove my point. You have to treat the customer right. If you don’t, they are going to speak very loud just as I am. I want what’s fair and I will keep pursuance until I get it. I will not let a large company bully me. Oh, and btw, I have the courts on my side… I found out about the following article when I got to work (after I said what I said this morning). It was honestly a coincidence. Please share this posting with everyone. Thanks.

Just got Dish, local cable company went under. The service man didn’t seem to have the time to walk us thru our new set up. 2 of the TV’s don’t work by the remote commands. I called DISH and they said it would cost me to have them come back out. What kind of service is that! My bill has been wrong each month, I call but they say one thing and don’t follow thru. Last night I called, 3 times, because their phone service kept putting me back to automated. VERY VERY upsetting. Never have I had such poor service, I try to smile and keep calm, but they put me over the top. Do they even care….maybe a class action lawsuit for all of us may be the answer.
I will try the ECS to see if they are better at customer service.

I don’t understand the modern corporations especially cable and satellite t.v. providers and phone companies. Here is an example. I have been a regular customer of dish network which is in my daughter’s name. However, when I called to get an equivalent rate to that of new customers, I was flatly refused. However, if I disconnect my daughter’s account and then reconnect in my name then I get the new customer rate. Now is that not screwed up? How do these companies wish to survive when they treat their old customers like you know what while treating their newer customers better. Corporations used to build loyalty with their customers but I guess that is gone and so will these corporations who follow these illogical rules in the name of the quick buck.

How does a satellite network get to change your local changes without asking the consumer? I had the service for over a year, called about something on bill and when they took something off, I could no longer get the local channels I had received for a year. But they will not give them back. Then they have enough nerver to say they need to change my satellite dish to not get the local channels I was receiving. But they were so kind to say they would wave the $15 fee for coming out to change it. So nice of them! Then they say you are have a 2 year contract so you can not get out of it. Tell me how this can go on?

Contact the senior level DISH executives and let them know how you feel about their company for making their customers pawns in their battle with FX at the following direct line numbers.
News reports say DISH may make $3billion in profits. They can afford to provide us FX and other quality programming!
Call corporate headquarters at this number, 303, 723- 1000, hit 9, and then key in these direct line extensions to the execs at the prompt:
Tom Cullen, Exec. VP Programming â€“ 285536
Erik Carlson, Exec. VP Operations â€“ 2275766
Stanton Dodge, Exec. VP â€“ 36343
Steven Wood, Exec VP – 9663783
Roger Lynch, Exec VP â€“ 59624
Robert Olson, Exec VP â€“ 65766
Finally, check your DISH bill. There may be charges you donâ€™t know about. Is it possible DISH promotes auto pay so you wonâ€™t look at your bill? No, couldnâ€™t be.

I enjoyed Dish when we had it, and recommended it to friends. I had no problems cancelling my service, but when I received the box to return the equipment i could not believe they wanted me to return the LNBF. It was on the roof! They charge $100+ if you do not, I really feel bad for the people not able to access their roofs. I actually called customer service to verify, because I thought this was insane. I do understand that this equipment is expensive, but they could send out a tech to climb a ladder for 5 minutes and remove them.